Episode 287

You're juggling a lot.

Full-time job, side hustle, maybe a family, and now you're thinking about grad school?

That's not crazy.

That's ambitious.

At American Public University, we respect the hustle and we're built for it.

Our flexible online master's programs are made for real life because big dreams deserve a real path.

At APU, the bigger your ambition, the better we fit.

Learn more about our 40-plus career-relevant master's degrees and certificates at apu.apus.edu.

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences.

Listener discretion is advised.

Sayden told his friend Dill that Olivia is kind of dating.

Not to be surprised that the teacher comes up missing.

Didn't expect to hear back from me so soon, did you?

I mean, I told you you're getting more sword and scale.

It's just some people just don't listen for some reason.

This is season 12, episode 287 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters

are real.

So, from now on, episodes that are only available to Plus members will have a little plus next to the name.

Easy, right?

If you want to get them, you'll have to sign up for Plus.

Go to swordandscale.com or download our app on Android or Apple.

You know, things cost money, so.

You're juggling a lot, full-time job, side hustle, maybe a family, and now you're thinking about grad school?

That's not crazy.

That's ambitious.

At American Public University, we respect the hustle and we're built for it.

Our flexible online master's programs are made for real life because big dreams deserve a real path.

At APU, the bigger your ambition, the better we fit.

Learn more about our 40-plus career relevant master's degrees and certificates at apu.apus.edu.

Sometimes the most dangerous thing we can do is follow someone's lead without thinking about it.

It's easy to get caught up in the movement, swayed by a friend's confidence, especially when you're young and naive.

We all want to belong.

We all want to feel like we're part of something.

So

there are times where we might be distracted, preoccupied with other things.

But sometimes you have to really stop and ask: what the hell am I doing here?

What am I following?

And where is this all leading me?

Because not every leader has good intentions, and not every follower realizes the stakes until it's too late.

In the heartland of Iowa, Fairfield is one of those small towns where everyone seems to know everyone else, and life moves at a leisurely pace.

It's the kind of place where neighbors wave from their porches.

Friday night football games are packed, and teachers like Noema Graeber are not just part of the school, but part of the community.

People don't think twice about letting their kids roam freely or leaving doors unlocked.

Fairfield feels safe and predictable.

Chautauqua Park lies just on the outskirts, surrounded by thick woods and quiet trails that wind through the tall grass and dense trees.

The park is where townspeople often take their morning jogs, children play by the pavilion, and No Ama Graeber likes to walk after school.

This ritual wasn't just an exercise, though.

It was a means of unwinding after being with students all day long.

But on this fall evening, the park would prove to be anything but safe.

The trails that provided calm and refuge hid a dark secret.

On November 2nd, 2021, she would go for a walk and never come home.

911 calls started to trickle in as the community's sense of security was ripped apart, leaving them to wonder if any place at all was safe.

The first person to notice that Noema Graeber was missing was her husband.

Actually, her ex-husband.

See, the Graebers were divorced, but they still live together a lot of the time.

I would like to report a missing person.

I'm curious to know if there have been any accidents last night.

Okay.

Who is the missing person?

Her name is Nuema Graeber, G-R-S-B-E-R.

She is a teacher at the high school.

And I just received a call from Mr.

Stone, the principal, and she has not appeared at work today.

Okay, where is she missing from?

From 205 West Washington, here in town.

Okay.

And when was the last time that she was seen?

Well, my son and I had been out of town in Texas, and she knew we were arriving yesterday

after being in Iowa City for appointments.

We came home expecting her to be here, and it looked like she had prepared

the starts of a meal for us in the evening, but no sign.

And

we've been wondering all night.

I didn't know whether to call or not.

I thought she would come in.

Certainly she would come in for work today, but Mr.

Stone says she is not there, and they have physically checked the room.

Noema was the last person who would take off for no reason.

I know we say that a lot, but this just simply wasn't in her character.

Noema was a very thoughtful, deliberate person who kept her schedule and did not miss school.

Okay.

She did take the automobile.

Which car is it?

It's a 1997 Honda

Odyssey.

Okay, and do do you know what the license lead is?

No, I can dig it up.

Who is it registered to?

Is it registered to her?

Yes, it is.

It's the dark blue.

Okay.

And have you, is her phone off?

Have you tried calling her?

Is it just going to voicemail?

She has no cell phone.

Okay.

You can tell by the dispatcher's reaction that that's a weird thing to say.

I mean, of course it is.

It's 2025.

How do you not have a cell phone?

Yeah.

In fact, I'm sitting right next to her.

I'm in the home right now.

And her phone is there?

It's here.

It's one that she can only use for calls on WhatsApp and different things.

It doesn't have service, a regular phone service.

Okay, and when was the last time you actually spoke to her?

On Sunday evening, about

8 o'clock.

from our brother's home in Dallas, Texas.

And she was excited that we were coming back and said that a lot of things had happened.

Jefferson County, 510.

And what does she teach at the high school?

Pardon me.

Oh, she is a Spanish teacher.

She's one of

Spanish teachers.

In case you didn't hear him say it, Noema was one of two Spanish teachers at Fairfield High School.

County's about 18,000.

It's not an exact figure, but in that ballpark.

It's kind of a, you know, it's Iowa, so Iowa's counties are all laid out on a grid.

So all things considered,

it's a, you know, small Midwestern city with a pretty good and diverse economic base.

Certainly one of the more unique towns in the state of Iowa, that's for sure.

That was District Attorney Chauncey Mulding.

Fairfield is where he was born and raised.

It has a cultural side that feels unexpected for such a small town.

Home of Maharishi International University, people from all over the world attend school and live here, making the tiny town exceptionally diverse.

This brings us back around to Noema Graeber,

who was native to Mexico.

Although she didn't attend Maharishi University, she lived in Fairfield.

That was because she met Paul Graeber a few years after graduating high school.

She worked as a flight attendant and he was in Mexico as an exchange student.

He flew back to the States, but never forgot about Noema.

Meanwhile, being a flight attendant wasn't lofty enough for Noema, who was extraordinarily bright and ambitious.

She decided she would be a commercial airline pilot instead.

So she paid her way through flight school and became one of the first women in Mexico to be licensed to fly passenger jets.

Eleven years after Paul first met Noema, he was back in Mexico and looked her up.

The couple reconnected, married, and raised a family in Fairfield.

Only in her 50s did Noema decide she wanted to be a teacher.

So, being the kind of person that just does what she wants to do, she earned her degree and certificate.

For the next nine years, many Fairfield students would learn Noema's native language directly from her.

She goes missing.

People go missing, right?

It's not, it's always treated as serious, but it's not always presumed that the person, that the worst has happened, right?

You have to assume and look, but 99 times out of 100, when somebody goes missing, it's, you know, they either don't want to be found from a significant other they're hiding from, or it's a kid that runs away, whatever it is.

But Mrs.

Graeber's lifestyle and life pattern really was

A, predictable and B, very,

she's not somebody that would just go missing.

So her being missing was taken very seriously.

And her, you know, she's not somebody that would just not show up to class.

You know, she's not somebody that would just not come home to her husband.

Her husband happened to be out of town the day that she went missing.

So he comes home and she's just not there.

Almost immediately, residents started calling the dispatch center, detailing where they saw her in the days before and after her disappearance.

Hi, my name is Joy Craig, and I just got an email from the school saying that Mrs.

Graeber is missing.

Okay.

And I just want to say that I know I saw her at the library on Monday the first because we had a Day of the Dead celebration.

Okay.

And she was there, and that was 8.

Okay, and you said that started at 5?

Yeah, so I don't it ended at 6 because we closed at 6.

And so I know she was there sometimes during that period, and

um

I believe she was there by herself.

All right, we will get that added into our report.

A lot of people calling in were parents and students who had just seen Noema at school the day she went missing.

So my son and I were there yesterday at school.

We met with her

at

a quarter after one.

I think we left about about 2:30.

And I just was seeing posts on Facebook that people were reporting they didn't know what happened to her in the afternoon, so I thought it would be useful to let you know.

Calls were coming from everywhere.

Like a man who thought he saw Noema and her van in Middletown the day after she went missing.

And this doctor, leaving the hospital, thought she saw Noema's van in the parking lot.

Traverse and County Law Center.

Yeah, Yeah, I was curious, are you still looking for information about the missing teacher or was she found?

What information do you have?

Oh, I just saw something unusual when I was leaving work from the hospital, and I don't know if it involves her or not.

I just saw like an argument.

You know, two cars float into the parking lot when I was leaving about 5.45 on Tuesday evening.

And

one looked kind of like her van.

And

she got out and she was upset.

She was talking really loudly, and she walked towards the driver's door of the other car that looked like kind of like a sedan or something.

Okay.

Had more than one person in it.

And I don't know if it was her.

You know, I didn't look real good, but I'm a physician, and I just got in my car real quick because I thought maybe there was a fight.

And there wasn't hardly anybody else there.

You know, this parking lot was pretty empty.

The thing is, the cops located Noema in record time due due to the consistency of her routine.

She always took a walk at Chautauqua Park at the end of the school day.

So that's where they first started looking.

Now, unbeknownst to them, we've found the body at that point.

The body was found close to sundown, but the search pattern located her relatively quickly.

She was in a...

you know, not a well-traveled part of the park, but she was in a public park, you know.

The police formed a grid, and officers started looking near the northeast side where thick underbrush lined railroad tracks.

Keeping the others in view, one went forward and saw a red wheelbarrow hidden in the shadows with a blue tarp strewn over it.

Near this was a cluster of rocks showing faint red drops of what seemed like blood.

Careful not to disturb the evidence, the two continued walking westward and came to a paved trail deeper into the park.

But then, all of a sudden, the officer turned around and spotted a green sweater and dark shirt lying tangled in the brush.

The sweater, marked with a brown stain, was twisted amongst branches, and the shirt had a red substance with the unmistakable consistency of blood.

Then a call came in from an officer back where the wheelbarrow was was seen.

He found what appeared to be a human foot, barely visible beneath the tarp, partially covered by the railroad tie.

As they regrouped at that location, they had to climb down a steep hill.

This is where they uncovered Noema, about 100 yards east of the trail, under the tarp and wheelbarrow.

She had been violently assaulted.

Her pants were down around her ankles with her underwear.

Her top had slid up or was pulled up and she was wearing only a white bra.

Lying somewhat on her side, the back of her head was noticeably battered and bloody, with tiny twigs and broken leaves smashed into the hair strands, along with dried, caked blood.

As the search pressed on, other deputies followed new leads, streaming in from the dispatch center.

One caller, in particular, would deliver a revelation that changed everything, fast-tracking the hunt for Noema's killer or killers.

This was the first homicide in Jefferson County in over ten years.

In the early morning hours after Noema Graper's body was found, residents of Fairfield, Iowa were about to face the reality of her brutal killing.

It was the fall of 2021, and a quiet town known for its peaceful streets and close-knit community was suddenly shaken by the kind of tragedy it had rarely, if ever, faced.

The victim was one of their very own respected teachers.

After quickly finding Noema at the local Chautauqua Park, the investigation shifted into high gear.

Local law enforcement alongside state investigators started piecing together the evidence, hoping to make sense of what happened.

Leads emerged.

Calls kept coming in and a clearer picture of Noema's final hours was starting to take shape.

But for detectives, one question loomed largest of all.

Who could do this, and

why?

The very person closest to Noema was her ex-husband, who still lived with her part-time.

The pair had even discussed getting remarried, something that would make all three of their children happy, but especially their youngest, since he was disabled.

Her ex-husband, Paul, brought out some startling information.

While Noema was well well respected amongst her peers, she wasn't liked by all the students, especially the students who didn't work hard for their grades.

He also noted that there was a history of grade changing at FHS for quote-unquote favorite people.

He specifically pointed the finger at Principal Becker.

Get this.

Paul said former Principal Becker wanted his wife fired for not fixing grades, and the current administration immediately fell into the same mindset.

The mentality that no child should be left behind, no matter what the circumstances, but especially not if it's their child.

Paul said his wife was even confronted by the current principal and his wife in order to give their son a better grade.

But Noema Standards would never let her do something like this.

It's, you know, unethical.

Remember ethics?

Remember that shit?

She rebutted that the only way she would change their son's grade would be if she changed every student's grade, too.

Paul reported that former principal Becker threatened his wife physically by telling her he hoped he'd never meet her alone.

Becker tried to get her fired, but was unable to, only because of a procedural error.

Becker was in the room when the vote was taken.

The current vice principal had the same negative view of Noema because of her posture on grades.

I guess the idea of them being earned and all didn't sit well.

If you think our legal system is bad, then

don't even bother looking at the educational system.

It'll frustrate the fuck out of you.

According to Paul, his wife was

very old school in the way she thought.

You know, earning things and not just being handed them.

Boomer shit.

Some people don't like boomer shit and they get very, very angry.

Paul said if a student wanted a grade, she expected them to put in the work and didn't believe in just handing them out.

He went on to tell police that at one point, their house was egged and windows were broken by a huge group of students who

threatened, we'll get you, meaning they were going to be violent if they didn't get their way.

So, who would have thought that being a teacher, at least one that takes their job seriously, would make you a target by the very administration who's supposed to be watching over these children?

Among the calls flooding into dispatch and the DA's office, one call stood out and led investigators

Hi, Jefferson County Law Center.

Hey, Tracea, it's Tracy again.

Hi.

Hey, I have a question.

I don't know what PD officers are working or anything, but

I was talking with my daughter and she was talking with me a little more about

the way that she's kind of seeing being friends with this kid that I talked to Barker about.

And she gave me a little more info from this friend.

I didn't know if it was something I needed to bring her in and disclose to an officer.

Okay.

Do you know who the kid is, Tracy?

The boy she's seeing, his name is Bill or Dylan or something like that.

This Bill, and it's pertaining to this teacher that's missing.

Yes.

So Bill,

apparently,

according to Olivia, a couple weeks ago, this kid,

I can't say his name, Chasin or Chaden or whatever.

She knows

my friend.

I do not.

Right, right, okay.

And so I just didn't know if I needed to bring her in so she could just tell them what she had discussed with the boyfriend.

Okay.

Yep, yep, yep.

And your daughter is Madison or Co this is a little bit of a daughter.

Olivia, yeah.

Okay.

Are they currently still seeing each other, Dill and Olivia?

Yeah, I mean, they're

talk every night.

Okay.

And Dillon

boy last night told this Shannon boy is the one that told Dill.

Yes, and Dill told Olivia because Dill was concerned.

Sure.

Okay.

Let me go ahead and pass on the information

on this, Tracy.

This mother gave two different timeframes for when this kid had heard the information.

A few days and two weeks.

But whether it was days or weeks, this was evidence that some students still had it out for their Spanish teacher.

One of those students, who admitted he didn't like her and, quote, wouldn't be surprised if she disappeared, was named Willard Noble Chaden Miller and simply went by the name Chaden.

Nowhere you get that Spanish.

Oh, I was going to Great because, so I started the year like any other with open mind ambition.

I want to get the work done.

I'm not led to the kids.

I don't see how many people at the same class on their phone.

Like they know that works for it.

It's not the heart.

Yeah.

Honestly.

And it makes you lifel.

And it really just flucks over your future, honestly.

The scraper is very old-fashioned.

Hates technology.

Yeah.

Makes you lifeless.

She sees your phone.

And she's not that great at English.

So just that.

And she kind of just stands in front of the class and like talks about stuff and and then will give us worksheets.

But

I feel like the information has not been covered nearly enough for us.

Some kids like Evans can do it.

She picks favorites.

I don't feel good speaking Italy because she's likely missing.

But I just, I wasn't one of her favorites, I think.

And she will prioritize her favorites, even though they're the ones that are usually doing the best in class.

And it's the way she teaches, it's not like to pass the class.

And it feels very self-taught, and you're on your own.

Chaden tried talking to Noema and even talked to the principal about her.

The principal's response was to tell him that he was

aware of the problem, because so many kids through the generations had trouble and tried to get her fired.

The principal took copious notes and Chaden remarked that he was a good principal who liked the kids a lot, and that made the principal happy but who had so much hatred towards noema that they would attack her and bash her skull in

that's what police wanted to know as dick mentioned we're here you know helping out with the investigation trying to figure out what happened with uh

with miss uh graber um what do you think happened to her

it's not like she's a very routine person.

That's what we've heard.

What if they liked her to just stop and leave?

And when you say she's very very routine,

what do you know about her that would indicate that she's very routine?

Well, she's always on time.

She's always where she says she'll be when she says that.

I don't have too much of a personal relationship with her, but I know people that do.

Do you know of anybody out there that would have a serious gripe with Miss Graeber that

may want to hurt her in some way?

I know there's a lot of kids that fall into the same boat as me in Spanish classes and they don't like her.

She's kind of an asshole sometimes.

Not like her enough to hurt her.

I don't know.

I heard about her window being smashed.

I don't know how long ago that was.

And then just yesterday, my dad, he had gone and actually had a meeting with her.

Because I had been complaining to him about her and how just Spanish is kind of shitting on my GPA.

And so he was like, okay, I'm gonna go talk to her.

And he just told me yesterday on, well, driving me to therapy, that he didn't want to tell me anything because I would still be seeing her.

But apparently, so

I don't know that it happened all in the same night.

Her house got egged and pee-peed,

and I guess the window was smashed.

I guess I had them all at the same time.

And that meeting, Ms.

Graeber had asked him about it.

That's how he found out.

Asked him because she was suspecting me.

It was clear that a lot of people took issue with Noema.

Students, parents, and even the principal.

Well, both principals, to be fair.

She had a history of students vandalizing her house at least once.

But while Chaden felt like his Spanish grade was shitting on the rest of his GPA, He confronted Noema directly and wasn't part of the group that had broken windows.

And so

again, we're not here to come down on you if you were involved in an egging or a teepee, but if you were involved.

But if you were involved, we want to get it out on the table now so we don't we so we can identify that and move on from it.

Okay, so were you involved?

No.

You were not involved.

And I no, I have no idea.

Usually people like when something like this happens, you can find out once again small town.

People can be boasty.

You never know when the word will slip from someone's mouth and then it can spread.

I haven't heard anything and I could ask around me if I know but I bet they're being real quiet because it was pretty serious I mean smashing some news window that's that's a big charge actually it's not

well if you it could be very easily become breaking and entering right no not for just if you smash a window and

if you go inside and start making you know mess around man that's that could be an issue but

so for a high schooler that's pretty yeah that would look good so tell me this is there any

Can you think of any reason why somebody might say you were involved in that?

Because

we buttheads in class.

Okay.

But like with a little bit more specifically, like anybody might say like, hey, listen, I know for a fact he was involved.

Not I think he was.

No, other than

us arguing in class.

No, I don't.

Okay.

Yeah.

I wasn't

invited.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

All right.

I won't mess because it could just so easily go south.

I feel like if Macap pulls up, but it's just not, it's just a hole.

Right.

Shaden may not have been involved in vandalizing Noema's house with a group of students, but he did know something else about another group and their retaliation against her in the park on the day she went missing.

This is what he says happened.

It was very sketchy, and I am very good with body language and I knew that I did not want to be involved

and

I

got out of there because

I want to because I want to completely disassociate myself from anything that would have happened.

You wanted to at that time?

Before anything happened, I said, I need to get out of here.

If something goes down, I don't want to be involved at all.

And I

left and I didn't assist with anything.

I had no

I wanna say no knowledge, but I

something was up and because somebody did have knowledge.

Okay.

Okay.

And I know there's

It's just I something was kind of I've been in situations where no, this isn't body language

okay and don't shortchange it now.

I'm not shortchanging it now.

Okay.

What I'm saying is that I've been in situations where I may not be involved but I may be with the people that did it or whatever it was and things go south very very quickly as soon as officers show up and whatnot and I knew that I could feel that this is this could be it very easily be one of those situations.

And so I left.

Okay, tell me about the situation.

I was at Chautauqua with Jeremy and I see Ms.

Graeberg's car pull up.

And this was yesterday.

Or I'm sorry, two days ago, Tuesday night.

Right.

And something didn't...

I had had some

buy in some prior

something from the past few days and I knew that this is this is when I'm gonna leave because I don't know what's gonna go down and so I did.

Okay.

And I don't know anything past that point other than the next day I see that she's not absolute.

This is the part where Jeremy Goodale comes in.

Shaden was at Chautauqua Park with his friend Jeremy and Jeremy's girlfriend Zoe.

We were hanging out for a little bit and we were at the shelter that's

you can kind of see the parking lot, even though it's far off, you can see the parking lot.

But then Zoe has to leave, she leaves

and

then

some i

shouldn't seem right and well i see miss gray bird don't go as long as that what didn't seem right

i had had i had heard prior things from the past week about just a lot of people talking about miss gray bird and

just i knew something, I met that there were other people at the park

posted up, I don't know, on the trail or or what, but and I had seen some teenagers when they were coming, like in the distance, going down, and it was sketchy and I see her and I think something might go down.

I need to disassociate myself because I am

I'm staying on the right track.

I need to keep clean record.

I'm getting all my grades in.

I'm getting as much college credit in.

I'm not trying to fuck this up by getting

becoming a suspect

because of me being by something that just happened and being a teenager, and so I left.

And that's what every parent hopes their kid will do, right?

Leave the scene when shit starts getting shady.

But what about his friend Jeremy?

Well, unbeknownst to him, Jeremy has already been implicated in one of many phone calls reporting sightings of Noema.

From Wisconsin, no less.

But Jeremy does not disassociate himself like his friend Shayden does.

Hi, um,

I'm calling regarding maybe some information about uh

a missing woman, uh, Noma Graeber.

Okay, what's your name?

My name is Sean Allen.

A-L-L-E-N?

Yes, it is.

Okay.

What information do you have?

Okay.

So I've got a four I live in Wisconsin.

I've got a 14-year-old who has been playing Xbox with a young man named Jeremy, what's his last name,

Goodale, G-O-O-D-A-L-E.

My son and my son's friend from California have been in an Xbox

Snapchat relationship with this person for a couple of years.

My son comes to me tonight

just distressed,

just distressed, crying, and

he's got to tell me something important.

And he proceeds to tell me,

he tells me that this Jeremy person

had shared with my son and my son's California friend that he killed somebody.

and

and there was a group of people and he described some things in detail to do with a bat and a car

and

it freaked my son out he kind of blew it off but then

they received this KTVO missing persons thing

and Now it's got my son just really,

really, really freaked out.

So, you know how Snapchat's really big because the messages and pictures are immediately deleted with the correct settings?

Two warnings.

First of all, the receiver can still screenshot it.

Nah, duh.

And of course, the cops can always get their hands on records through a subpoena.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Did you think it was end-to-end encrypted?

Yeah.

Right.

And then, like I said, last night Ben and Jack received a snap, which I think has been self-deleted or gone at this point.

But

this Jeremy

allegedly told this tale about what he had done.

And then my son thinks Jeremy may be using drugs.

And when did Jeremy say all this?

Ben, what time yesterday did Jeremy get a hold of you?

10 o'clock last night Central Time.

This begged the question.

Since Jeremy admitted he killed someone, did he say when he did this?

So Ben's thinking between after school and 10 o'clock.

S.

E A N, yeah.

Okay.

Well, it sounds like Ben and Jack,

my son and my son's friend, were a little freaked out and were trying to be sleuths and track where this guy was on Snapchat and took some screenshots and stuff.

So does it show that he's in Fairfield?

It shows that Jeremy is in Fairfield.

Apparently, Jeremy thought that since Snapchat is anonymous and can be set to delete immediately, it was okay to confess to murder to someone in a different state.

Not only did Jeremy confess, but he also gave details like a complete fucking moron.

You know, Zoomers,

the future leaders of society.

Ben was recalling that Jeremy said there was a group of friends that

Ben did they say they hid the car, did something with the body,

did any of that?

I think they, I think, I don't know, but he showed me a picture of him packing a bleach into a backpack.

I'm not sure what he did though with the body, and he said he packing what into a backpack.

Ben says Jeremy sent him pictures of what appeared to be a bloodied shirt

and bleach going into a backpack.

Imagine you're a parent and your kid lays this on you.

Would you believe him?

Part of me was thinking, okay, this has got to be bullshit, but

Ben, you know, we found the kid on Facebook.

Ben knows that he plays tennis.

That name is on the tennis roster at the high school in Fairfield.

Again,

somebody weird could have all figured that out and made it up, but

whatever.

Some of those things were lining up.

Okay, Sean.

I don't know when this missing persons thing came out.

It looks like, oh, it looks like today.

The missing persons alert hit the state of Wisconsin just two days after the group of teens allegedly killed Noema.

This dad called in because his son received a snap from a gamer friend, Jeremy, who lived in Iowa.

Jeremy implicated a whole group of teens, and police were interviewing Chaden, who initially claimed no involvement.

But Chaden's story was changing.

And I get why you came in here and you spent the first 45 minutes avoiding certain things because they're very, very

uncomfortable to talk with, okay?

But even in this new version of it that you're telling me, where you were out there and you actually saw Miss Graber

You saw her pull up, but then you decided, oh, I don't want to be a part of this.

That doesn't, I don't buy that for a second.

Not for a second.

She pull up and I knew.

Here's why.

Can I tell you why that doesn't shake out?

Sure.

Because for 45 minutes, you were in here saying, no Chautauqua, barely any Jeremy, nowhere but my house.

Then all of a sudden I confront you with the fact of something that you already knew was true, and then your story changes, but not enough.

Jaden's story was a slow rollout, like putting your big toe in a lake to see how cold it is and if you can handle it.

Then putting your whole foot in and then your leg.

So you realize you're freezing.

And you should get the hell out of this lake.

Anyway, the story kept changing one little bit at a time.

Okay, like I said, we have a lot of people working on this.

I can tell in your eyes that you have regrets, okay?

But the lies and the falsehoods and half-truths don't show a person who's remorseful about what they did.

We were walking down the path,

the road,

and

there were other people, okay?

I'm telling you, this was not a one-person thing.

There were

five, six, seven maybe.

Okay.

And

I'm walking down and then we get to the

there's another trail that heads off and then

I, a few minutes later, I looked down and

I couldn't see who there were multiple people around and they were moving

moving what a body.

Okay.

And I

freaked out.

I had a panic attack.

and I ran.

But as the officer pointed out already, he wasn't buying buying it.

Not for a second.

And if Chaden didn't want to immerse himself in the deep waters of truth, he was going to get a shove.

We're right back to where we started.

You understand, Chaden, you understand how that doesn't shake out, okay?

And as I told you, we have other people putting you a lot deeper involved in this than what you're explaining, okay?

Basically, what we're trying to figure out is whether you're the ringleader or you're just along for the ride, because there's a big difference.

I I didn't plan anything.

I had no input in any plans.

And, Jay, looking right now, I can tell that you had a regret about what happened.

Okay, we can't change the past, and that's a bitter pill to swallow.

With all the interviews being conducted and all the surveillance footage reviewed, there was one person who could either get Chaden off the hook or completely drown him.

The kid that sent the Snapchat, Jeremy Goodale.

I'm glad you're here

because we certainly have a lot of things that we kind of need to hash out and whatnot.

I've got some questions that I'd certainly like to discuss with Jeremy if possible, but

because he's a minor, we need to go through you, okay?

I'm sure at the conclusion of any questions that I have, I'm sure he'll have some questions for me.

But ultimately, that's completely up to the two of you whether you want to speak any further with me and hear what I have to say.

I'd like to know what this is an investigation of has

this graver been found?

So at this point, and I'll be upfront and honest with you, at this point human remains have been located.

Okay.

Those human remains have not been positively identified as Miss Graver, but due to a lot of different circumstances, we feel

this is a murder investigation.

Jaden eventually accepted public defense, but Jeremy and his dad hired a lawyer right away and didn't speak.

It didn't really matter, though, who spoke and who didn't.

The cops had Jeremy and Snapchat admitting the murder and showing a bloody shirt.

They had footage of Jeremy pushing a wheelbarrow past the school to Chautauqua Park that night.

They had the kids at school saying Chaden told them, I caught a body with a baseball bat.

With all this evidence and more, there was enough probable cause for search warrants.

They uncovered the bat, the murder weapon.

The footage at the park during the hours of Noema's murder and concealment showed no other teens in the park.

It was down to Jeremy and Chaden.

All the evidence was pointing to Jeremy as the lead killer, but what didn't make sense was the motive.

Jeremy had already taken and passed Noema Graeber's Spanish class.

He had literally no skin in the game.

It was Chayden who was planning a trip to Spain that depended on whether or not he passed or failed.

It was also Chaden and his dad who went to discuss this grade within hours of Noema's murder.

According to her husband, Noema warned him about this meeting with Chadin and his parents.

She said it wasn't pleasant, and she felt like Chadin legitimately hated her.

She would even turn from the whiteboard to face the class, and every time she felt like Chaden's angry stare was burning into her core.

Both teens were arrested, and eleven months later, Jeremy offered to give a complete and accurate account of what happened in exchange for leniency.

But do you recall the first time ever having a conversation with Chaden about Miss Graeber?

And not necessarily about what happened, but just a conversation with him about some frustrations or a general awareness of her?

Probably would have been about

a month and a half before November 2nd.

He would have brought up some frustration.

He brought up some frustrations to me, talking about how he was having a hard time and he didn't feel like she was being very adequate or understanding.

Okay.

So, so probably early in the school year?

Okay.

So, hypothetically, of course, exactly how do you approach another person,

especially at school, and ask for help in killing a teacher?

It was just like any other day.

I was eating lunch in the cafeteria with John and Shaden

and a few other people that we sit with.

And when I got up to bust my lunch trays he kind of pulled me aside and said

would you help me if I killed Miss Graeber

I mean I guess it's just like that and what was your response I paused for a moment and looked at him and then I said

sure pretty much I said yes okay

and I mean that's not a not a request that a friend asks asks you every day.

And so, what was your immediate reaction that, like, hey, he's my best friend, he needs something, I'm here to help.

Or what kind of thoughts were going through your mind before you say, like, yeah, sure?

I mean,

I originally was just trying to, yeah, as soon as he said that,

I was like, holy shit, I mean, I guess I'll help you.

I'm just trying to be a good friend.

Just trying to be a good friend.

That's what goes through the minds of underdeveloped, idiotic brains.

Remember that.

I would have been feeling pretty nervous at the time.

I mean,

at this point, I was pretty convinced that he was going to go through with it.

And I had already agreed, and I just didn't want to seem like

a coward or a wussip by backing out at the last moment.

While Jeremy was committed enough to his friendship with Chaden to be complicit in murder.

It seems the friendship may not have been reciprocated.

It sure felt like Chaden tried to pin everything on first a group of kids and second, Jeremy.

Suspiciously, he asked Jeremy to go to get a wheelbarrow from Chaden's house later that night when they moved the body.

Was he trying to set him up?

This was DA Chauncey Mouldings' response.

Well, you're asking a question that we on on our team have asked a few times.

And

I think it was, I haven't watched the proper interview with Jeremy in a very long time, but there was a real big part of my thought process that wondered why Chaitan couldn't bring the wheelbarrow himself.

And was it possible that he was setting Jeremy up to be the ball guy?

And I don't have enough information one way or the other, but...

you know, it doesn't make sense to me if we're both sneaking out of our house at midnight for it to ask, if you and I live in the same town or we're going to meet at the same place at midnight, I wouldn't ask you to come to my house and grab something.

I would bring it myself.

This isn't to say that Jeremy wasn't completely in on the plan.

He was.

And nobody forced him to tattle to his gamer friend through Snapchat either.

Remember, the picture was sent showing Jeremy's face with the caption saying that this was the last face his Spanish teacher would see.

It didn't feel like there was a lot of remorse.

That, to me, shows somebody that's

not ashamed of what he's doing, is what I'm getting at.

And so

there had to be some pride, I would think, that was between the two of you that you're working together on this and executing the way that you wanted to.

Is that fair?

There would have been some bravado each

project myself as some cold-hearted killer.

Right.

Okay.

Okay.

Now, when was the let's talk about in terms of the planning,

you agree to help him out, you agree that, hey, there's a four-day weekend coming up.

What are your different options here?

Explain what you mean, my options.

What are the different options for a plan?

Like, we could shoot her, we could use baseball bats, we could stab her, we could do all these different things.

What's being discussed between you two?

I really just left the planning up to him.

Detectives were able to back up Jeremy's story after finding a murder list created by Chaden that detailed every implement they would need down to garbage bags.

Then, under a column entitled Procedure were the damning words of a young killer.

Stun, move off the trail, empty compartments, load cargo, blanket cargo, deactivate compartment contents, leave the bag by exit, and transport.

Safely stun.

Switch glove.

Deactivate the article to bag.

Finalize the win.

Secure victory.

Load into the storage spot.

Don't forget to close the door on the ground and switch gloves.

Move the sticks.

Wipe down tools.

Dispose of articles.

And grab bag by exit.

Done.

Just going to say this once.

If you're the type of person that has the limited intellectual capacity to where you have to write things down, otherwise they might slip your mind.

And one of those things is a list of items you'll need for murder and how to actually murder, and you have to actually write out the word done at the end of it.

You know, I hate to say this, but you might not have

what it takes for murder.

In Fairfield, Iowa, a place with small-town routines and traditions, students at Fairfield High School were used to getting a pass in some classes like Spanish.

At least, some students were.

And it seemed the school's administration condoned the lenient grades given out to some.

No student left behind, you know?

All that bullshit.

But Noema Graber's traditional style and strict grading left some students frustrated and resentful, particularly those who think they're entitled to whatever grades they want.

Again, particularly, a student by the name of Chaden Miller.

Chaden and Jeremy were two ordinary high school boys.

Both were, you know, somewhat intelligent, I guess, and neither had a criminal record.

But Chaden was ambitious and calculating.

He led the way by repeatedly venting his frustrations about his Spanish grade and how this was going to fuck up his future.

I guess murder wouldn't do that, though, right?

Moron, right?

Jeremy, his loyal friend who'd known him since preschool, was impulsive and easily influenced.

So he quickly fell in line with his friend's ideas.

If you can't lead, follow.

That's what they say.

Anyway, on November 2nd, 2021, the extent of Chaden's hatred became horrifyingly real when search teams found Noema Graber's body concealed under a tarp and wheelbarrow in a heavily wooded area of Chautauqua Park.

On that day, Two ordinary students with hopeful futures became hardened killers.

When Shaden and Jeremy were brought in and it was determined that we had probable cause to charge first-degree murder for both Shaden and Jeremy, the most difficult part in the initial stages for me personally was just having to sit down with Jeremy's family and Shaden's family and explain to them: look,

I'm sorry that people went to have to tell you this, but both your sons are in custody and both of them have charges for killing Mrs.

Graeber and they will not be going home with such a thing.

Noema Graeber would also not be coming home.

She may have been an old school teacher, but she was still loved by many students and certainly loved by her family.

She gave up that life to move here and teach Spanish, and she was married to Paul, who her husband, who unfortunately all died,

was it a week before of chasement?

So

he was very

good.

The whole Graeber family is some of the most sweet and just open-hearted people we've ever dealt with as victims.

And they're very, to be completely frank with you, far more forgiving of these two boys than I ever would be.

So she was a well-regarded teacher.

I think that she made a pretty big impact on the kids that she taught.

She was strict, but she was fair and she was very kind.

And I think that she really kind of left an impact on the kids that she taught because there is there is still like a uh a memorial, you know, for her and the kids put something together every year, uh an annual walk for Mrs.

Graver at the park where she was killed.

Chadin was, in fact, the leader, planner, and mastermind behind the killing of Noema Graeber.

Though Chadin's parents were separated, he lived with his mother and his father lived around the corner.

Provided with a doting mom and a sharp mind, he couldn't bear the idea of anything or anyone standing in the way of his plans.

After all, they were his plans, and the children are our future, or so I'm told.

Noema Graeber, his Spanish teacher, had become an obstacle.

And Chaden didn't like obstacles.

Chaden's dream was to join an exchange program in Spain, a plan that he feared his failing Spanish Spanish grade would ruin.

Ironically, his victim's story started with a similar dream.

Noema first met her husband, Paul, in Mexico when he was an exchange student.

Little did she know that by refusing to give in to the demands of this young man Chaden, his family, and the school administration, she would lose her life to his ambition.

Well,

he pled pled guilty and was given life and the possibility of parole in 35 years.

His statement at the sentencing hearing was anything but ambitious.

I would like to take this opportunity to wholeheartedly accept responsibility for the role that I've played in the market of Humber River.

I would like to apologize for my actions first and foremost to the family.

I'm sincerely sorry for the distress that I've caused you and the devastation of other family with all my heart and I am

sorry for impossible.

Some of Noema's family didn't quite believe in Chaden's sincerity.

To this day, it's clear to me that he feels no genuine remorse.

No doubt he's sorry for himself.

Sorry he's here.

Sorry for what's coming.

Perhaps sorry for his family.

But I don't believe he feels genuine remorse for slaughtering Noema Graver.

I believe Willard Chad Miller should be sentenced to life in prison with a requirement that he actually served no less than 35 years before becoming eligible to be considered for the possibility of peril.

Sadly, Jeremy's dad died of cancer after becoming weakened from the stress of this whole ordeal.

His only son committed an act that would stain his life, and he would never see his son as a free man

again.

The funeral was held the day before Chaden's sentencing, making it all that much sadder.

Jeremy Goodale was Chaden's opposite in many ways.

Whereas Chaden had friends, he was socially awkward.

Jeremy was the more popular of the two, but somehow played the role of follower to Chaden's lead.

He was easily influenced and quite vulnerable.

The only boy with four older sisters, you might think there was plenty of estrogen in the household, but his parents separated when he was just 10, and his mother moved to a different state with her boyfriend.

This was Jeremy's dad at the sentencing hearing right before he died.

What he said through his tears was that Jeremy's mom kind of abandoned him.

From then forward, their relationship was strained and eventually stopped altogether.

Jeremy's dad did the best he could to keep the family farm going, but he had to sell it when Jeremy was 12.

Then 2020 came along, and Jeremy's dad attributes the school closings and isolation as playing a role in Jeremy's deteriorating mental health.

And how was Jeremy performing with his school work

when everything was online?

Not very well.

You know, I was a single parent at that time.

I had to go to work.

I had to provide for the family.

And I was to leave a

14-year-old kid at home by himself.

He had to be online because that's how they were getting their

studies.

It was an utter disaster.

You can imagine.

He was not doing his work.

He was.

No matter what I seemed to do, since he had access to the internet, you know, I couldn't keep him from playing video games, and that's pretty much what he did all day.

His dad went on to say that he sought out three different mental health therapists for his son.

But weirdly, he never got to have a single session with any of them.

Two of them died suddenly before the first appointment, and one lost his license just before the first session.

Weird.

After the lockdowns and loneliness of 2020, Jeremy came to school hungry for a connection.

In his need to belong, he was easily influenced by Chaden.

Maybe Jeremy didn't realize how far things would go.

In his mind, it was too late to back out of the dark plan for fear of coming off to his friend as weak.

But unlike Chaden, Jeremy was plagued by remorse after fully realizing the horror of what he'd been a part of.

Caught between his own sense of guilt and his loyalty to Chaden, he became tangled in a scheme that was never truly his.

I want to say I'm grateful for this chance to speak my peace.

I offer my sincerest apologies to the Graeber family,

but I know my words will never be enough.

I've had time to think on what to say, and I'm sorry, truly sorry.

What I've taken can never be replaced.

Every day I wish I could go back and stop myself,

prevent this loss and this pain that I've caused everyone.

Everyone in the community and outside of it.

Those closest to me and those closest to the Graeper family as well as the Graeper family.

I didn't know how taking this Graper's life would affect you.

I can't comprehend losing a loved one

in such an awful way.

I'm sorry I didn't stop this from happening in the first place.

Jeremy went on to finish with a sincere and poignant apology.

He was given life with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

Jeremy's need for connection made him vulnerable to Chaden's control.

Chaden had the charisma to lead, but didn't seem to have the conscience behind it.

Jeremy was isolated after years without his mom, a dad who worked long hours, and the loneliness of the pandemic.

So he followed Chaden, likely because he craved the excitement and didn't want to lose the friendship.

The problem with following the wrong person is that it can lead you to places that you never wanted to go.

The search for connection, approval, or even just something to believe in can cloud our judgment.

We are, after all, emotional animals,

reactive, and

not all that disciplined.

Sometimes it takes us a while to learn a very important lesson.

Sometimes it takes us a little maturity.

And that lesson is that with the wrong leader, the price of following might just be more than you're prepared to pay.

All right, we did our part.

Now it's time for you to do yours.

Go tell a friend about your favorite podcast, swordandscale.com.